Bamboo Mound

Ning Chang poured out a pill into his hand. With so many pills, Ning Chang could use one for research without any psychological burden. Moreover, he could still eat it after the research was completed.

This elixir is about half the size of a spirit stone.

He first held it under his nose and smelled it. It had a faint scent of grass juice, and its overall shape was smooth and clean with a milky white color.

It feels very hard; Ning Chang can't even pinch it now, but it can still be easily broken apart.

As it was broken open, a strong grassy scent rushed to the top of the head, then disappeared without a trace. When smelled again, the grassy scent on the pill had become much weaker.

Its internal color is the same as its external color, both being milky white. It also contains spiritual energy particles, but not many.

I put the two halves of the pill into my mouth, and as expected, they melted instantly.

The pill transformed into a stream of spiritual energy that flowed into his abdomen. This spiritual energy made Ning Chang feel a sudden surge in his dantian. Without thinking, he guided the spiritual energy to travel along his meridians.

Wherever the spiritual energy flowed, Ning Chang could feel a sense of expansion. After several cycles, the spiritual energy finally and steadily flowed into his dantian.

Ning Chang finally relaxed. After that, his dantian and even the meridians throughout his body had been expanded!

"If breaking it in half can have this effect, the whole thing would probably be torture." Ning Chang also discovered that his passive absorption of spiritual energy had become much faster, almost catching up with his previous autonomous absorption.

Ning Chang believed that if the elixir was damaged, its efficacy would be greatly reduced.

Even with the pills lost, he didn't feel any better. If he had eaten the whole pills, it wouldn't have been as simple as just enduring it!

After calming herself down, Ning Chang capped the small bottle in her hand and set it aside.

He determined that these were pills used to aid cultivation and improve one's cultivation level.

"Then there's this cultivation method. Logically speaking, after teaching me the Azure Cloud Technique, there's no need to give me another cultivation method. Won't I suffer from qi deviation?"

In the novels Ning Chang had read, arbitrarily changing one's cultivation method usually led to qi deviation or severe injury.

However, doubts arose when it came to him.

"Let's take a look first. We can't expect it to explode after just one look without any cultivation, can we?"

It's noon now, so he has plenty of time to study. If today isn't enough, he'll study tomorrow; if tomorrow isn't enough, he'll study the day after...

Ning Chang began to remind herself to downplay her sense of time.

Now, he has no worries about making a living, no longer has to struggle for money, and is all alone, devoted to the Tao.

"This is what youth is all about!" This wasn't the first time Ning Chang had remarked.

The book isn't thick, only a dozen pages, but Ning often needs to understand every single sentence in it.

It wasn't until evening that Ning Chang closed the book, a flash of understanding appearing in his eyes.

It turns out that the Fire Flame Heart Technique is not a cultivation method like the Azure Cloud Technique; it does not record the circulation path of spiritual energy.

Instead, through a special process, the spiritual energy within the body is converted into a relatively active fire-attribute spiritual energy, thereby imbuing the spiritual energy used in attacks with a flame-like effect.

Although it is not necessary to imbue one's spiritual energy with attributes when cultivating to a higher realm, cultivators with attributes have much greater attack power than those without attributes at the same realm, which can be considered a qualitative change.

Ning Chang sat cross-legged and circulated his spiritual energy according to the steps described in the Fire Flame Heart Method.

"Gather your inner energy from your dantian..."

"...finally returning to the dantian."

After completing the set, Ning Chang couldn't wait to feel the situation in his dantian.

"Failed?" According to the book, after a successful conversion, one should feel a warm sensation as spiritual energy circulates in the dantian, and the spiritual energy should become more active.

Ning Chang felt the same spiritual energy as before and couldn't understand where she had gone wrong.

So Ning Chang went through the Fire Flame Heart Sutra again, carefully checked each step, and then slowed down to try it again.

........

"It failed again. Is it because my cultivation level is not high enough...?"

Ning Chang did not think there was anything wrong with the Fire Flame Technique. His master's insights stated that the spiritual energy transformed each time would gradually assimilate the spiritual energy absorbed later.

In other words, this mental cultivation method does not transform the dantian attribute, but rather the existing spiritual energy attribute!

Under this premise, even someone with a low-grade fire spirit root can succeed if they follow the correct steps.

Failure will only occur if someone with a different elemental root tries to convert fire elemental energy!

"Spiritual roots represent an affinity for spiritual energy. The higher the grade, the stronger the affinity, while attributes indicate the compatibility with the corresponding cultivation techniques."

Since I possess a top-grade fire elemental root, theoretically, failure shouldn't be an issue.

Ning Chang has not yet reached the Spirit Gathering Realm and has not officially become a cultivator. He attributes his failure to his cultivation level.

Ning Chang pondered for a moment and decided to wait until he reached the Spirit Gathering Realm before trying again.

He glanced out the window, put the pills and spirit stones into his spatial bag, and got up to wash.

Although he had almost no activities today, he was already mentally exhausted.

He lay in bed and quickly fell asleep.

However, he did not get a good rest; his brow remained furrowed ever since he fell asleep.

........

He had a dream in which he sat motionless on the ground, unable to control his body, and all he could see was darkness...

Ning Chang slowly opened his eyes only when the sunlight fell on his face, and rubbed his slightly numb forehead.

Although the bed was warm from the sunlight, Ning Chang's body was still trembling slightly uncontrollably.

"What's going on?" One nightmare is one thing, but having nightmares for two nights in a row is a bit strange.

"Everyone says that you dream because you're under pressure, but what pressure could I possibly have right now?"

Since I couldn't come up with a solution, I simply stopped thinking about it.

After getting up and washing up, I swallowed a fasting pill.

After adjusting his mindset, Ning Chang began his first cultivation session.

He sat cross-legged on the bed, held a spirit stone in front of his dantian, and swallowed a pill with his other hand.

Instantly, a rich spiritual energy surged into his body, and he felt intense swelling and pain throughout his body. Fortunately, he was prepared and did his best to guide the spiritual energy to circulate in his meridians.

Each time the energy passed through the dantian, it would expand by one size. Finally, when half of the spiritual energy brought by the pill was consumed, Ning Chang's dantian stopped expanding.

At this point, his dantian was already perfectly round and smooth.

"Spirit Gathering Stage 1, successful!"

But he couldn't be happy. Although the throbbing pain had subsided, there was still half of the spiritual energy that he hadn't refined.

However, now, while circulating his cultivation technique, he began to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit stone in front of him.

The pill contains a vast amount of spiritual energy, but only relative to Ning Chang's current state. Its main function is to accelerate the absorption of spiritual energy.

And so, Ning Chang absorbed the spiritual energy around him and from the spirit stones while simultaneously refining it using the Azure Cloud Technique.

His meridians continued to expand, and the spiritual energy contained in his dantian continued to increase...